[TR] Mt. Alpha - Tantalus Range- East Ridge 8/1/2004

[fern]

Climb: Mt. Alpha - Tantalus Range-East Ridge

 

Date of Climb: 8/1/2004

 

Trip Report:

 

McLane's Alpine Select guide says this route can be done in a day by a fit and fast party from Squamish. Well good for them - we did it in 2 1/2days

 

We crossed the Squamish River ninja style on the cable. The best method is to clip yourself right up to the cable with a single steel biner from your belay loop. Hang your pack from a separate biner and drag it on a leash. It's good to clip the pack high enough to put your feet on it while resting, but keep the leash long enough it doesn't tangle with your feet while you are pulling along. Work gloves are handy too. here's a picture of Cadet Murphy practicing before heading in there next weekend: http://www.umich.edu/~armyrotc/stakes/ropebridgemurphy.jpg

The Squamish River is very cold (colder than Lake Lovelywater) - I wouldn't recommend trying to swim it.

 

We camped in the meadow on the lower East Ridge. There is water here from the snowfields on the north side. The trail from Tantalus Hut to the East Ridge is well flagged and starts from the camping area at the corner of the lake.

 

The East Ridge is mostly a 3/4th scramble. There is about 5m of steep 5.7 at the start with a fixed pin protecting the crux and this was the only section we used the rope for. A couple of medium nuts and a handsized piece is all the gear I would call necessary but YMMV.

 

The descent down the west side is not quality and if I was to do the route again I would go back down the East Ridge. If descending the west side, traverse skiers left above the chossy gully, then traverse right back towards Serratus to get to the top of the grassy bowl. Where the slopes steepen again there is a boulder slung with a handline - steep downclimbing of slimy slabs gets you to the top of a small snowfield. From the base of the snowfield follow the talus and gametrails through the krummoltz until you are completely lost. Rappel through slide-alder, downclimb a waterfall and wade waist-deep through log-choked mud until you find (or don't find) the Lambda Lake trail.

 

 

 

Gear Notes:

ninja gear to cross the river

swimsuits are for wimps

 

Approach Notes:

you will lose the trail at least once. I guarantee.

[Dru]

who was "we"

where are the pictures of swimming the river

[specialed]

Well done grasshopper.

[fern]

"we" was a party of 6. I will answer in the form of a logic puzzle: 5 canadians 4 accents 2 married 2 summitted logan 1 circus performer.

 

no swimming pictures. Snoboy would ban me for posting pictures of naked people .

[Dru]

so did Lena make the first nude ascent of the east ridge?

[gearheart]

Nicely done - we climbed that route last year as part of a traverse of Alpha and Serratus and had similar "issues" on the descent from Serratus as it sounds like you had off of Alpha. The descent was certainly a little more involved than expected.

We were lucky enough to borrow a canoe from a friend which is definitely the way to get across the Squamish River. The canoe across is quick, safe and easy. Crossing the cable looked like a frightening and strenuous proposal to me - power to you guys.

We climbed up and over Alpha on day one which takes you to what I thought was perhaps the best part of the trip - the "Inca" bivy in the col between Alpha and Serratus. It gets the last light of the day and the first light in the morning - an awesome bivy up high in a spectacular spot. Highly recommended.

[durocher]

Three of us were in the Tantalus two weeks ago. The descent from Alpha seems easiest if after reaching the snow (below the fixed rope you mention) you head back west towards the Serratus-Alpha col and then descend southwest on large talus back to the Russian Army Camp. From there, a large cairn marks the start of the well-established trail back to Lambda Lake and Lake Lovely Water that avoids any bushwhacking. Of course, we only knew this because we went up the West Ridge of Alpha; we likely would have had similar route-finding issues on descent had we gone up and over the East Ridge. On the return we came from the Ionia-Serratus col and descended the northwestern gully, as described in Fairley.

 

If interested, here's a plot of our tracks indicating the route from Lambda Lake to the East Ridge. The black dots are actual gps tracks (not the purple ones). tracks

[PaulB]

The descent from Alpha seems easiest if after reaching the snow (below the fixed rope you mention) you head back west towards the Serratus-Alpha col and then descend southwest on large talus back to the Russian Army Camp.

Our group concluded the same thing after thrashing our way down to Lambda Lake. It probably would have been faster to just head over to the basin and pick up the trail from there.